This literature review explores mHealth videoconferencing interventions for the deaf population across three primary health domains: mental health, substance abuse, and language delays in children. Evidence suggests that videoconferencing interventions are at least as effective as traditional face-to-face methods and offer notable cost savings. Mental health outcomes showed significant symptom reduction and higher satisfaction when interventions were delivered by sign-fluent professionals. Substance abuse interventions revealed improvements in wellbeing and reduced substance use across both videoconferencing and traditional groups, with the online modality being more cost-effective. In the context of early language development, children receiving videoconference-based intervention showed improved expressive language and greater parental engagement. However, limitations such as small sample sizes and limited generalisability highlight the need for further research.

Despite being widely regarded as the gold standard in psychotherapy, CBT’s dominance invites critical re-evaluation. This article explores whether CBT’s popularity stems from genuine clinical effectiveness or systemic convenience. It explores CBT’s origins and policy-driven expansion, while highlighting concerns over the robustness of its supporting evidence. The piece argues that CBT’s success may reflect alignment with policy priorities more than universal therapeutic efficacy.

First generation students (FGS; those whose parents did not achieve a university degree) now constitute almost half of the UK university student population, but access is not synonymous with success. There is a lack of UK-specific research on factors which might explain compromised academic success in FGS compared to their continuing generation student (CGS; one or both parents achieved a university degree) peers. This study aimed to compare factors which are associated with academic success (both persistence and performance) in FGS and CGS. A sample of 133 UK university students (FGS N=79; CGS N=51) completed a survey containing measures of hope, self-efficacy, engagement and burnout. Results showed that levels of hope, engagement and burnout were similar in FGS and CGS, but that levels of self-efficacy were statistically significantly lower in FGS than CGS. Universities must urgently consider the systemic, structural and environmental barriers which cause FGS to arrive but not thrive academically. This study makes a significant contribution to knowledge about FGS in UK universities and lays the foundations for future research which aims to ensure that widening participation encompasses FGS getting on, not just getting in.

David Marr (1945–1980) remains an overshadowed yet significant figure in cognitive psychology, primarily due to his groundbreaking tri-level hypothesis. This framework, introduced in his posthumous work Vision (1982), provides a structured approach to understanding mental phenomena by analysing cognition at three levels: computational (defining the purpose of a cognitive process), algorithmic/representational (detailing the mechanisms and representations involved), and implementational (examining the neural basis). Marr’s model emerged during the cognitive revolution, addressing limitations of behaviourism and the reductionism of early computational psychology. While praised for integrating psychology, neuroscience, and computational modelling, his approach has faced criticism for potentially isolating these levels rather than considering their dynamic interplay.Despite these debates, Marr’s legacy persists in cognitive science, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and maintaining psychology’s theoretical and empirical rigor. His contributions remind researchers to ‘think big’ by embracing comprehensive, multi-level approaches to studying the mind.

Cognitive assessments can be anxiety-provoking. Although commonly observed by clinicians, there are no published autoethnographies of those undergoing such assessments. Autoethnography involves reporting on personal experiences and observations of an event to facilitate a rich understanding of cognitive assessments. The current autoethnography provides reflections of an aspiring psychologist who underwent a cognitive assessment to experience the process from the service user’s viewpoint. The Five Aspects model (Padesky & Mooney, 1990) and Johns’ (1995) model of structured reflection are employed, to assess anxiety throughout. Practical recommendations are provided for clinicians administering assessments, with an emphasis on the importance of reflection.

This discussion piece considers how the medical model conceptualises psychosis and how this differs from psychological and relational understandings. It aims to summarise how people are typically supported and normalise these experiences. Whilst the current medical model focuses on neuroscience, other approaches consider the wider, relational contexts in which these occur; subsequently there are a range of interventions. Western psychology must remember that there is cultural variation in psychotic phenomena which shapes how it is experienced and managed. Our modern approaches in categorising and treating psychosis should hold these different frameworks in mind, not forgetting lessons from the past and from different cultures. Consideration is given to how these models have been understood differently throughout history and culture, in comparison with evidence of what may be labelled as psychosis today.

This article outlines an experiential journey of undertaking PhD research during the Covid-19 pandemic. The PhD project seeks to explore LGBTQIA+ professional’s experience of working in the screen industries in Northern Ireland and associations with their mental health and wellbeing. The current study began in September 2019, six months prior to the March 2020 lockdown, which impacted the study’s two-tier sequential qualitative approach consisting of interviews and a photovoice project. The study is ongoing at the time of publication. This article describes how the original study plans were adjusted across the course of the PhD due to the coronavirus pandemic, in light of challenges such as low response rates despite extensive recruitment strategies, and adjustments within the research design. Global events combined with working with an underreached and under-researched group brought about challenges to ensuring PhD progress and meeting research aims. The article ends with reflection on this journey, acknowledging the importance of supportive supervisors and university systems, and the learning and development that has been facilitated which serves to build researcher resilience.

Executive function and resilience, both key components associated with a healthy interaction with one’s environment, have been researched alongside one another, increasingly throughout time. Psychological flexibility is also a fundamental component in mental health and wellbeing, commonly used in therapeutic techniques such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. To date, little research has focussed on the relationship between executive functioning, resilience levels, and one’s psychological flexibility. Research conducted so far has determined relationships between executive function and psychological flexibility, and both components with resilience. Future research would benefit from researching these variables together in the context of adverse life events to inform interventions that aim to improve resilience and psychological flexibility.